Farm animals of all shapes, sizes at fair

Claire Hartwick, 1, of Carrollton, checks her pigs on Sunday to help her siblings prepare for a livestock show this week at the Greene County Fair in Carrollton, Illinois.

Claire Hartwick, 1, of Carrollton, checks her pigs on Sunday to help her siblings prepare for a livestock show this week at the Greene County Fair in Carrollton, Illinois.

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Claire Hartwick, 1, of Carrollton, checks her pigs on Sunday to help her siblings prepare for a livestock show this week at the Greene County Fair in Carrollton, Illinois.

Claire Hartwick, 1, of Carrollton, checks her pigs on Sunday to help her siblings prepare for a livestock show this week at the Greene County Fair in Carrollton, Illinois.

Farm animals of all shapes, sizes at fair

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CARROLLTON — Baylis, Illinois resident Tori Woods spent much of Sunday bathing her sheep to prepare for the livestock shows this week at the Greene County Fair.

The 19-year-old has shown livestock at county fairs for as long as she can remember.

“We do about 15 county fairs and the State Fair every year. We won Showmanship at the State Fair, and we’ve had champions there,” Woods said. “It’s fun showing sheep and meeting new people.

“All you have to do is get the sheep trained and they are pretty easy to show. Some of them are easy to train.”

Woods hosed down one of her animals Sunday at the county fair in Carrollton.

“We have to wash them off and have them clean for the show,” she explained.

This is the first year for showing sheep for 15-year-old Sally Reed, of Jerseyville, who also plans to enter the hometown competition in Jersey County.

“The biggest thing I’ve learned this year is how to handle and work with a larger animal,” Reed said. “I’ve only worked with smaller animals before. It’s a learning experience, and the relationship that you gain between you and your animal is very rewarding.

“County fairs aren’t just all about the food and the games, just come out to an animal show and see how much hard work that people put into their animals, because it really pays off in the end.”

Tiffany Phillips, 24, of Fieldon, has shown livestock for 16 years. She competes at five or six county fairs each summer and the Illinois State Fair, where she won a reserve champion.

“We got a big old check, and that’s a good feeling,” she said.

Phillips has a secret to her success.

“You just have to be calm. The calmer you are, the calmer they are, and will present well to the judge,” she said. “But, it can kind of depend on the day. Sheep are like human beings, they have different attitudes on different days. The hotter it is, they more temper they have. But sheep are smaller animals, so you have a little more control on them than you would a pig or a cow.

“This is our first show of the season, so after this one they will be a lot calmer,” Phillips said. “Livestock shows at county fairs are a great learning experience, especially for kids because it teaches them hands-on skills and responsibility.”

One of those kids is Claire Hartwick of Carrollton, who will turn 2 years old next month. Her mother, Angie Hartwick, said Claire was at the Greene County Fair on Sunday, “…taking care of her pigs, but she has siblings who help her raise them and show them for her,” naming siblings Lucy, Noah and August Powell.

Hartwick’s husband is an agriculture teacher in Carrollton and Claire, who has been coming to county fairs her entire young life, will probably be a student of his some day, Angie said.

Claire’s mother helped her to articulate her favorite animal at the fair.